In Russian folk medicine chaga is used to treat cancers,
often stomach and lung cancer, and it is likewise considered effective for
other common stomach and intestinal such as gastritis, ulcers, colitis, and
general pain. Since 1955 a a refined extract of the chaga fungus has been
manufactured and sold in Russia, Eastern Europe, and Japan for the treatment
of stomach and intestinal diseases.

There is now scientific research to support the claims of
the folk medicinal uses. The most recent and definitive analytical work on
chaga has been performed by Dr. Kirsti Kahlos, a pharmacognycist at the School
of Pharmacy, University of Helsinki, Finland. Kahlos and her colleagues found
a wide variety of active triterpenes, which have antitumor properties. Of
those, the most active was specified as inotodiol. They also found the compound
betulin. The betulin is actually a compound from the birch tree that has
anticancer properties. The chaga fungus absorbs and concentrates the betulin
from the birch and transforms it into a form that can be ingested orally.
Other researchers have found active polysaccharides, a common occurrence
in most medicinal mushrooms such as miatake and shitake Those polysaccharides
are known to stimulate the immune system. Kahlos and other researches have
found significant anti-cancer activity against specific tumor systems and
against specific influenza viruses.

I know many readers already know the mycological identity
of chaga. It is the polypore Innonotus obliquus . It is a northern species
that grows on birch, alder, and beech trees; however, only the fruiting bodies
growing on birch are considered suitable for medicinal purposes. In its usual
form it is hardly recognizable as a mushroom. One of its common names, the
clinker polypore is good descriptor. It looks liked a tumor with
a charred gnarled surface wedged in the trunks of birches. Even though it
is a polypore, you will not see any pores as on the underside of shelf-like
polypores. The black outer surface is hard, cracked and quite irregular.
When you chop it off the tree trunk with your hatchet, you will find a
yellow-brown interior that has a cork-like consistency and is marbled with
cream-colored veins. If you are lucky you can find your chaga growing within
reaching distance on the birch trunks; however, the conks often grow at a
height of 10 to 30 feet, which poses a quite challenge for collecting. Ive
heard a rumor that Lee Moellerman uses a shotgun to blast them loose. The
Russians go out with ropes and harnesses. Some of those high altitude prizes
may weigh over 10 lbs. The ideal chaga fruiting body is 25 years old. Now
consider this: according to one chaga product site, only one birch tree in
15,000 bears chaga.

The Chaga Story...Part II

Editors note: Due to space constraints, part of Ron Spinosas
Chaga Story was edited out of the last newsletter (ref.
Mushrooms in Medicine, p. 4, Feb. 05) before the chaga
foray. We present the missing part here, followed by Bob Fulgencys
review of the foray.

Very few westerners had heard of chaga before Solzhenitzen introduced
it in his 1968 novel, The Cancer Ward. In that novel, Sergei Maslennikov,
an old country doctor from the Alexandrov district near Moscow, noted that
none of his peasant patients had cancer. The doctor, wondering about this,
"started looking around... and discovered this: That to save money on tea
the muzhiks of that locality brewed not tea, but chaga, otherwise known as
the birch-tree mushroom. ... Actually, it's not even a birch-tree mushroom,
but a birch-tree cancer ... a sort of ugly growth on old birch trees... It
is dome-shaped, black on the outside and dark brown inside." It occurred
to doctor Maslennikov, Solzhenitsyn continues, that this tea made from the
birch tree mushroom could be the magic remedy that the Russian peasants,
without realizing it, had been using to cure themselves of cancer for hundreds
of years. Solzhenitsyns novel is largely autobiographical. He was a
patient himself in a Cancer ward, and he went on to recover from what he
was told was a terminal illness. Did Solzhenitsyn use chaga to treat his
cancer? It certainly seems likely.

The hard-core mycological types among you may be interested to know that
Inonotus obliquus it is a white rot fungus in the family
hymenochaetaceae. It is monomitic, having only generative hyphae
and with no clamp connections. If you want to know what all that means, there
is no better resource than Tom Volks Polypore Primer, which you can
visit at:
http://botit.botany.wisc.edu/toms_fungi/polypore.html

But wait! We have not come to the end of the Chaga story. Another common
name for Inonotus obliquus is the true tinder polypore.
While researching chaga on the internet, I found that chaga is well known
in the primitive skills community. They are folks who enjoy the
challenge of starting fires without matches, using methods employed by humans
millennia before modern times. One method is the striking together of flint
and steel or iron pyrite to generate a spark, which then falls upon on and
ignite a tinder. Masters of this method swear by chaga and have found it
to be the best of all tinders. The dried inner portion of the chaga is the
part used. Another polypore, Fomes fomentarius, has the common name
of tinder polypore, and this was the species I was familiar with
for use as a tinder. F. fomentarius, however, is a much harder fungus
and requires considerable preparation before use. Chaga is superior because
it requires no preparation and, and it takes a spark better.
Primitive skills folks have found a method that further enhances the virtues
of chaga as a tinder repeated applications of urine (letting it
dry in between) makes it much better at taking a spark.

Ron Spinosa

The Great Cross Country Ski/Winter Chaga Foray

For the first time in its history the MMS sponsored an event that joined
together two fine outdoor activities, the sport of cross country skiing with
foraying for mushrooms, in this case the famous medicinal mushroom Innonotus
obliquus (chaga). The site foray leader Lee Moellerman chose
for this adventure was Savanna Portage State Park located in north central
Minnesota about 170 miles directly north of the Twin Cities.

On this Saturday, March 5, 2005, neither the weather nor the snow conditions
could have been better. There was a good two feet of clean, bright white
snow on the ground and the temperature was a balmy 32 degrees. The directions
to the foray site given in the newsletter were slightly off, but not enough
to cause more than a few minutes delay in reaching it. As it turned out there
were only three of us, Lee Moellerman, Ron Spinosa and yours truly, Bob Fulgency,
that made the visit to Savanna. The small attendance was probably the result
of the fact that the newsletter containing the announcement of the chaga
foray came out only a few days before the event.

Ron drove to Duluth and spent the night there the evening before the foray.
Lee came early Saturday morning to check out the area prior to Rons
and my arrival. As we prepared to start on the ski trail under the watchful
eyes of two high flying bald eagles, Ron discovered that he had not brought
his ski poles so a pair was quickly created out of a couple of properly sized
tree limbs found near the parking area.

Although his equipment was a bit novel, Ron adapted to his substitute poles
quickly and they served him well and did not slow him down. Luckily for Ron
there were no fastidious skiing aficionados around to issue him a fashion
citation. About fifty yards down the trail Lee had earlier spotted a fairly
good sized chaga on a birch tree; unfortunately it was about twelve feet
off the ground making it beyond our reach. The early discovery of this chaga
was encouraging so we continued on our way with high spirits and expectations.
After about an hour without spotting any more chaga bearing trees we were
beginning to believe that maybe there is in fact only one chaga for every
10,000 trees as one authority on the subject has claimed. At that point we
decided to get off the trail and onto the frozen surface of nearby Lake Savanna.
About this time the sun came out and the nice day we were enjoying suddenly
became perfect. From the lake we had a good view of the birch trees along
the shore and after a few minutes of using this technique for locating promising
trees we discovered a couple of them bearing chaga.

Lee and Ron Harvesting a Chaga
Savanna Portage State Park, 2005

The first tree we visited had a fair sized chaga on it which we proceeded
to cut off carefully so as not to harm the tree. The chaga that we could
see on the second tree was smaller, but when we examined that tree more closely
we found a large chaga on the back of it. All told we probably had over 25
pounds of chaga to place into our back packs.

Bob and Ron Collecting a Chaga
Savanna Portage State Park, 2005

We continued around the lake and saw several more birch bearing chaga, but
the mushrooms were too high up on the trees to get down without climbing
a ladder. After another hour we decided to call it a day as we had accomplished
our main goal and besides our chaga was starting to become more of a burden
than we cared to continue to lug around.

Bob, Ron and Chagas at Trails End
Savanna Portage State Park, 2005

We had a terrific time looking for and finding the chaga and now considered
the daunting prospect of pulverizing the chaga into the consistency of ground
coffee beans. Once that is accomplished the chaga can be percolated just
like coffee and the health enhancing chaga tea will be ready for drinking.
In closing I encourage you too to make it a point to participate in the chaga
foray being planned for next winter as it is a wonderful way to get out and
enjoy the winter splendor of northern Minnesota.